Learn to code they said. Create websites and let your imagination run free. *
It's probably a good thing none of the Youtube videos I watched when initially starting out ever mentioned branches or commits- I might have ran the opposite direction away from tech and never looked back.
However, you can only avoid it for so long. As soon as I got into a bootcamp the love/hate relationship started. I tried my best to do only what was necessary and keep things simple. If it were up to me I would have built all my projects in the main branch but our teacher insisted on using different branches and commits.The most I did in the terminal was was merging and even then I felt like I was being overconfident with my skills.
The drawback with working on only solo projects during the bootcamp was that I was yet to learn that git is actually to interact with other people. So a few months later, working as junior developer, I had to face it HEAD on.. (no pun intended). How will I find a way to change my negative perception and conquer this tool ?
Lose the perfectionist mindset
Be ok with messing up a project and potentially (worse case scenario) starting over again. For me this meant that i had to learn to play around with code and not only code to produce a project.
Pair program with someone ASAP
I asked a colleague to code a small project with me so that we could practise the interactivity and collaboration of working in git. The aim is to not focus on the technicality of the code so we picked a junior project from Frontend Mentor and ran with it.
Finding ways of learning that work for you
I did some internet searching trying to find something that would help me visualise what the commands in the terminal were actually representing. Here are some resources you can look into as well if you need motivation like me:
W3schools The "code along" structured tutorial is good when you want to see how commands would actually affect your code practically. The added bonus is that you can select which platform you are learning for - Github, Bitbucket or GitLab.
Oh My Git and Learning Git branching Both of these are my favourite as you visualize the internal structure of the git repository while completing tasks and having fun.
Oh My Git
- Git Explorer Not really so much about learning how to use git but it helps you to "find the right commands you need without digging through the web."
Hope this helps you find your git spirit!